One Final Question: Josh Groban
Radio Times Magazine
January 20-26, 2007
By Martin Aston
(Thanks to sento for transcribing this article)
The fogeyish young singer with the fabulous voice may not be hip…but is he bovvered?

You recorded your session for Live from Abbey Road [Monday C4] In the shrine to Beatlemania, In the company of the Who and Paul Simon -how nerve-racking was that experience?

You're in a historic, incredible place, where so much greatness has become before you, so I felt lots of pressure. I'm guilty of nerves, like most performers, but you just want to do the best job possible. I had recorded one song for my new album [Awake] at Abbey Road last year, in Studio One, so that helped. That's such a gorgeous studio.

You've sold more than 15 million albums, sung at the Oscars and at the 2002, Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, yet here we don't really know you. Would you flinch if I called you the male Celine Dion?

I'd call what I do an eclectic type of pop music, but with classical influences, thought I don't like the classical-crossover term, and I hate being labeled opera, which the press sometimes do. I just like to find music I can wrap my voice around and sing to the best of my ability. I especially love interesting collaborations

Talking of which, you've sung with Celne Dion, Andrea Corr, Charlotte Church, Ladysmith Black Mambazo...Who did the sexual chemistry click with most?

Oh, I see where this is going...Let's see. Charlotte was just 15, so no. Not Ladysmith, for obvious reasons! [The a cappella group are all male.] I probably had the biggest crush on Andrea Corr. She's gorgeous but, again, when I sang with her I was only 17 [he's now 25], so I couldn't have been more of my league. It's going to be one of those interviews, is it?

One of what?

[Laughs] Sorry I didn't give you the dirt you were looking for. Let's say I'm always attracted to people with musical talent, and I have great admiration for those ladies who share the same drive and passion as me.

With a huge voice like yours, why haven't you sing opera?

Opera is absolutely gorgeous, but it's not what I've felt like doing. When I was younger, I wanted to be in musical theatre like those by Stephen Sondheim-epic shows that render you speechless. I want to be more experimental than opera allows. The shower would be the only place I'd sing Nessun Dorma.

You've recorded an album in London and you've said "gorgeous" three times. Are you an Anglophile?

When I got back to L.A, I kept saying "bloke". And "p*** b******s" when I was angry! A friend taught me on the Sarah Brightman tour-and no, it wasn't Sarah. I've recently seen Spamalot, which having been a Monty Python fan, was so much fun to see in Britain. When the giant wooden bunny got rolled out, everyone screamed! It felt like a football match. Catherine Tate is phenomenal. I've been saying "How very dare you?" a lot and I said, "Am I bovvered?" to a waitress who replied, "All I asked was if you wanted fries with that."

Done anything to warrant the "diva" tag?

I sang at this event in New York called the Princess Grace Awards, and this official lady-in-waiting said [affects posh British accent], "It's come to my attention that you asked for ten bottles of water in your dressing room"-now these were little bottles, the least you could ask for, because I drink a lot of water before I sing. But she said, "You mustn't do such things because people will think you're a diva." I replied, "I'm so terribly sorry. How many bottles of water are appropriate?" I'm working too hard to be a diva.

Your fans call themselves Grobanites. Not the sexiest name.

Yeah, it sounds like a disease. "She was struck down with Grobanitus." But God bless them, they're excited and passionate, so I'm lucky to have them.

One Final Question: you were a teenager when fame struck, so what are the chances of you "doing a Charlotte Church" and getting into the booze, fags and nightclubs?

Charlotte went through a time in her life, as we all do at 14 or 15, which was filled with angst and lots of questions, I was just amazed at the way she handled everything. Every artist who wants longevity has at some point to say, "This is me, love it or hate it." I was able to be a kid before my career happened, so I was ready for it. But this has been me from the beginning. There's nothing I record that doesn't come from an honest place. Right now, I don't feel the need to become something I'm not.

(Josh Groban was talking to Martin Aston)


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